VENTURA : City Worker Struck by Car, Badly Injured

A Ventura city worker was struck by a car and critically injured Friday as he was retrieving orange traffic cones from Victoria Avenue, police said.

Ruben Ramirez, 57, of Oxnard, suffered major head injuries and was in a coma late Friday at Ventura County Medical Center, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Shortly after 10 a.m., Ramirez was clearing off four cones that he had set down to block off the right lane of southbound Victoria Avenue, just north of Olivas Park Drive. He had picked up three of the cones and was about to grab the fourth when he was struck by a car driven by Patrick J. Biando, 28, of Ventura, the CHP said.

Biando, who was not injured, was changing lanes and apparently did not see Ramirez until it was too late, according to the the CHP.

“He looked back over his shoulder to make sure it was safe (to change lanes), and then looked up and saw the road worker in front of him in the street,” said CHP Officer Chris Day, who was investigating the accident Friday afternoon. “He then jerked hard to the right and slammed on his brakes.”

Day said Ramirez saw the car bearing down on him and broke for the right-hand shoulder. Biando hit the brakes and went into a skid, but still struck Ramirez, Day said.

CHP spokeswoman Staci Morse said Biando’s vision may have been blocked by traffic in front of him. An investigation into the incident continues and no arrest had been made Friday evening.

Ramirez, who has only been with the city for six months, was assigned Friday to pick up equipment that measures traffic flow. The flow is measured as cars run over black rubber hoses laid across the street and connected to boxes on the roadside.

Ramirez, who was wearing an orange traffic-safety vest, had cleared the hoses from the street and was retrieving his traffic cones when he was hit.

Nazir Lalani, city transportation engineer and Ramirez’s boss, said that to his knowledge Ramirez is the first worker with the city’s engineering division ever struck by a car while on the job.

Lalani said Ramirez, as with all employees in his line of work, received safety training before he started his job. A review will be launched to see what precautions Ramirez had taken and how and why he was hit.